Date of Award
8-2022
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice
Committee Chair/Advisor
Natallia Sianko
Committee Member
Andrew H. Mannheimer
Committee Member
Katherine Weisensee
Abstract
COVID-19 created many disruptions in the field of education as teachers and administrators navigated the many changing protocols affecting learning environments and pedagogy over the past two years. This thesis examines secondary teachers’ perceptions of managing these protocols through their lived experiences while teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic through the 2020-2021 school years. Previous research has shown a teacher’s sense of self-efficacy is related to both learning situations and teacher performance. However, research exploring the impact COVID-19 has had on teachers and their learning environments is limited. This qualitative exploratory study fills the gap by investigating situational factors in learning environments that influenced participants’ sense of teaching-efficacy during the pandemic. The data were collected through nine semi-structured interviews with secondary teachers at a public middle school. Findings show that participants perceived workplace satisfaction and increased teaching-efficacy as dependent on emotional and material administrative support systems. Furthermore, these findings illustrate that successful management of instructional pedagogy and learning outcomes during hybrid learning are influenced by social structures and accountability dynamics within their school. Implications of this study are discussed in relation to: (a) the literature on the impact of COVID-19 on teaching-efficacy and (b) practical and social efforts to advance the understanding of teacher burnout and attrition rates.
Recommended Citation
Gillespie, Holly, "Teachers’ Views of Situational Factors Influencing Teaching Efficacy During the COVID-19 Pandemic" (2022). All Theses. 3872.
https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses/3872